The backfield of the Denver Broncos is largely being dismissed by the masses this offseason. Looking at the group on paper, it's easy to assume that it's a bad football team and the No. 1 running back on the list, Javonte Williams, may already be on the downside of his career.
But the team may be ready to surprise the league with its running backs.
Last season, Sean Payton was ready to implement a strong running game. The free-agent signings of Mike McGlinchey, Ben Powers, and Michael Burton evidenced that. But the team never got the ground game going as Williams was coming off of a serious knee injury the season before and the team was just erratic offensively.
It didn't look like a Payton-led team.
That will change in 2024 as Payton has put more of a stamp on the team this offseason and things will be more like what he has done for the entirety of his career.
That starts at the quarterback position. Russell Wilson is gone and Bo Nix is in. While it remains to be seen when Nix will be named the team's starter, it should surprise no one if he opens the season in that role. Nix has been often compared to Payton's quarterback in New Orleans, Drew Brees.
Jaleel McLaughlin will play key role in offense with Bo Nix at QB
Last season, Jaleel McLaughlin was arguably the most effective running back on the roster.
Though he only got 80 rushing attempts on the season, he averaged a full yard or more over any other running back on the team. He also showed he could catch the ball, reeling in 31 passes in limited action as a rookie.
It's that second part — in the passing game — where he could significantly help the team this year. And that could conjure up thoughts of another Saints player that Payton had, Alvin Kamara.
"Jaleel McLaughlin is SO freaking fast... Sean Payton is going to trust him to be the Alvin Kamara role"
— DNVR Broncos (@DNVR_Broncos) June 4, 2024
— @ZacStevensDNVR believes Jaleel McLaughlin will take a MASSIVE step in Year 2 under Sean Payton 👀 pic.twitter.com/Q6zvFRvIeh
It's bold to compare McLaughlin, an undrafted player last season, to Kamara, one of the best running backs in the league. But in Payton's system, it's not far-fetched at all.
Kamara was drafted in the third round in 2017 but when he joined the team, the Saints already had Mark Ingram and Adrian Peterson on the roster. It was expected that he would be brought along slowly, but it soon seemed that he was too good to leave off the field and that Peterson wasn't a good fit for the team.
Kamara then took over more of a prominent role and while he was an effective runner, his biggest plays came as a receiver out of the backfield. That is where McLaughlin could become the same kind of factor.
With Nix, the team is not going to push the ball deep down the field through the air. He completed 77 percent of his passes last season and he didn't do that by throwing the ball all over the place. He did that with short, timely routes and that is what made him the player Payton sought out in the draft.
Nix will likely employ that same short-passing attack as a rookie and his running backs could become huge weapons as receivers. The younger, quicker McLaughlin would probably be the most effective in that spot, taking over the Kamara role in New Orleans while Williams was more of that tough, between-the-tackles runner that Ingram was.
Payton is going to attempt to turn this Broncos offense into the one he ran in New Orleans, he had way too much success not to. Look for McLaughlin to be a major factor in those plans.
